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Driving age 'rising to 18' with tough new test designed to slash road carnage
The driving age will effectively rise to 18 in a major overhaul of how young people are prepared for the road.
Learners will still be granted their provisional licence from 17, but will need a year to pass a beefed-up test.
It means the minimum age at which a new driver could realistically go out on his or her own will be 18.
The move follows a Daily Mail campaign, backed by the insurance industry, road safety campaigners and motoring groups, to raise the formal driving age to 18 to help cut accidents caused by young drivers.
Road safety figures show that one in five new drivers aged between 17 to 19 crash within a year of passing their test. But for 17-year-olds the risk reduces by 43 per cent after the first year of driving.
Tough test: Young drivers will be expected to gain 500 hours of road experience before being given a driving licence in a bid to cut the number of accidents caused by young drivers
The new structure, to be unveiled by ministers in a consultation document published in the New Year, will put more emphasis on issues such as avoiding reckless behaviour, hazard perception, "over-confidence and other failings".
Candidates will have to master key skills of the current driving test - including parallel parking, reversing around a corner and the three-point turn - before they are allowed to take a new practical L-test, which they must pass to secure their full licence. Each mastered key skill will be signed off by a qualified instructor in a log book.
This will leave the examiner in the driving test to concentrate on more 'safety-critical' issues, such as dealing with junctions, roundabouts and moving traffic.
The test, which will be harder than the current one, will include elements such as driving on a dual carriageway and turning right at a busy junction.
The learning process will also aim to give candidates experience of 'real world' driving on high-speed roads and at night.
Learner drivers will spend up to 500 hours mastering the key skills.
Experts say candidates currently spend 100 hours behind the wheel before taking their tests.
"This way the Government can effectively raise the driving age to 18 without having to specifically legislate,' Whitehall sources said.
"It will take most people at least a year to be signed off by a qualified instructor on all the skills they need to master before taking the tougher L-test."
A few drivers "with the skills of a Lewis Hamilton" may qualify to take the practical test, and secure a full licence, in less than a year, say Whitehall insiders. But they will be the exception rather than the rule.
The campaign to restrict young drivers – which also calls for tougher sentences for those who cause fatal crashes – follows a moving plea from Elizabeth Davidson, whose 26-year-old daughter was killed last year by a teenage driver.
Margaret Davidson's car was hit by 19-year-old Nolan Haworth at 70mph in a 50mph zone as he raced to court, while banned, to answer a charge of affray.
In September last year he was jailed for just four years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
During the trial, Mrs Davidson moved the judge to tears by describing the devastation to her life caused by the death of her daughter, a doctor.
The restructuring of the driving test system will apply to all two million candidates a year of all ages.
The consultation will look at whether to insist on a given number of compulsory lessons with a qualified instructor.
Affordability will be a key issue, with those from poorer backgrounds currently often relying on free tuition from family and friends.
MPs have called for a 'zero' drink-drive limit of 20g per 100ml of blood for novice drivers - similar to that for air crews - compared to the current standard drink-drive limit of 80mg/100ml.
The Government says it will look at this under a separate review of the drink-drive limit.
But ministers see difficulties enforcing it as police would not be sure which limit applied to drivers they stopped.
MPs have also called on the Government to prohibit new drivers from carrying passengers aged ten to 20 between 11pm and 5pm.
The Government rejected this in 2002. But it will consider again the 'practicality and likely effectiveness' of the measures.
Recent research has shown that young drivers' brains are 'too immature' to drive safely.
The frontal lobe - which controls emotion, risk-taking and decision making - is not fully developed until the age of 25.
And studies of driver attitudes show young motorists are more likely to drive for the pleasure of thrill-seeking, and feelings of pride, power and confidence.
The road safety charity Brake said that raising from 17 to 18 the age at which young people can take their driving test would significantly reduce the 'disproportionate' number of young driver deaths and injuries on UK roads. It said road crashes are the biggest killer of those aged 15 to 24, with 23 young drivers and passengers killed or seriously injured every day.
Nick Starling of the Association of British Insurers said: "We must get away from the pass now, learn later culture too many youngsters have.
"Every day 140 drivers pass their driving test with less than six months' driving experience. It is this lack of experience that makes young drivers so vulnerable.
"Helping them gain experience of driving in different road conditions, such as at night and on wet roads, as part of the learning process will make them safer drivers, and reduce the tragic waste of young lives on our roads."
According to the ABI, male drivers aged 17-20 are 10 times as likely to be killed or seriously injured as more experienced motorists.
Half of serious accidents involving young drivers occur at night.
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